Latest Update in the China Pig Iron Market

As of January 26, iron ore inventories across 35 ports tracked by SMM totaled 119.65 million mt, a decrease of 200,000 mt from the previous week but up 8.08 million mt year-on-year. Daily average deliveries from the 35 ports increased 34,000 mt on a weekly basis to 2.66 million mt this week.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on February 26, 2021

China HRC stocks across social warehouses and steel makers extended gains this week as steel mills kept normal production while end-user demand has yet to recover completely.

China steel rebar inventories slowed down the increase on week as the domestic market was in a state of complete stagnation in the same period last year, while the market demand recovered relatively quickly this year.

DCE iron ore futures market headed for strong momentums today, while the quotations in the morning remaining flat over yesterday. PBF was closed at 1175-1180yuan/mt in Tangshan and Shandong markets, with price hike of around 5yuan/mt.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on February 25, 2021

The average operating rate of blast furnaces (BFs) at Chinese steel mills gained 1.1 percentage points from pre-holiday levels to 87.1% as of February 25. This was 3.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year. 

Social inventories of long steel (including wire rods and rebar) in Guangzhou expanded 26.47%, or 464,200 mt, in the week ended February 24 to 2.22 million mt, showed SMM data. The stocks were 7.9% higher than the same period last year.